Gillian Saga VIII - Moments - Haley
by monica.prelooker
Summary: Jack misses his mom and asks about Hotch and Gillian -a little slice of life
1. Chapter 1

"Are you my dad's new girl-friend?"

Gillian forces herself to stay focused on spreading the smashed potatoes over the meat pie, and answers: "You know? I don't think your dad and I ever actually talked about it…"

Connor smells the fun and pauses his game to stroll to the breakfast bar, where he lazily sits by Jack.

"What d'you think?" he asks the boy. "Should they start dating?"

"I'd like that. You guys are ok," Jack says shrugging. He takes a minute to think and shoots the next nuke from his agenda. "Will I have to call you mom?"

Gillian firmly grabs the dish and signals both boys to go the table, already laid for three. She sits at the head and starts serving dinner.

"But your dad is a little old for my mom, Jack," Connor teases. "Always so serious and all that."

"He's not old! Maybe you're a dork," Jack retorts.

Connor sticks out his tongue at him, Jack returns the courtesy and Gillian laughs at them, making them laugh as well.

"Because I didn't call Beth mom, I just called her Beth…," Jack goes on right away, Hotchner-fixated. "But she didn't live in our building, and I didn't see her everyday like I see you."

"But you don't call Jennifer mom just because you see her everyday too, right?"

"She's my aunt, Reg!"

Gillian sees the amused way in which Connor arches his eyebrows, and ignores him to turn to Jack.

"Well, I don't think you should call me that. Because you already have a mom."

"Yeah, but she's gone, you know. That bad guy took her."

"Yeah… You know? That bad guy also took one of my best friends…"

"Did he?"

"Yeah. We're so lucky your dad took him down, else he would've kept doing those terrible things."

"My dad always catches the bad guys."

"Yeah! One day I'm gonna tell you how I met him. He was catching a very bad guy."

"Really?"

Gillian shoots Connor a help-me-or-I'll-kill-you look. "Yeap. How's the pie, lads?"

"Hey, Jack, what happened with that girl from school? Are you guys dating or what?"

"Not yet," Jack seriously answers. "But soon."

They keep talking about school, and soccer, and the boy gets distracted.

After dinner, while Connor does the dishes, Jack and Gillian pick Jack's things, what's left of the meet pie, and they head downstairs to Hotch's apartment. Hotch may come back home tonight or tomorrow morning, and he likes checking on Jack as soon as he crosses the door, so there's no staying over at Gillian's tonight.


	2. Chapter 2

Gillian can see the boy is still harboring his thoughts, so she lays back in his bed by his side. Jack sticks to her, with that Hotchner-serious frown that forecasts the scowl-to-be.

"So that bad guy took your friend?" he asks, picking on what she said earlier.

"Yeap," Gillian says, sliding an arm beneath Jack's head.

"And do you miss him?"

"Sure I miss him. A lot."

"Yeah, I miss my mom too…"

Distracted by Jack's words, Gillian doesn't hear the soft click at the front door, and the quiet steps into the family-room. Hotch drops his go-bag spotting the light on in Jack's bedroom. It's ok, it's not late for him to be awake. He's going to say hi to him and Gillian when he hears Jack saying:

"You know? I don't really remember much about my mom…"

Hotch noiselessly tiptoes to Jack's door, slightly open, hearing Gillian's answer. She always addresses Jack like he were older than he actually is, never like a little boy, and Hotch knows that's one of the things his son likes about her:

"That's because you were so little when it happened."

"Yeah… I have all those videos, and her pictures, but I don't remember much more than that."

Hotch pauses right outside the door, grimacing at his son's words.

"Oh, but you don't have to worry about that, Jack," Gillian says right away.

Hotch frowns and stays there, listening to them.

"When someone we love goes away, we slowly start to forget exactly how they looked like, or their voices-."

"Yeah, I don't remember mom's voice save for the videos."

"See? But it doesn't matter, because you remember how they used to feel."

"Feel?"

"Exactly. I bet you remember exactly how it felt like when she hugged you, and tucked you in, and kissed you goodnight, don't you?"

"Yeah, I remember that."

"See? You remember how much she loved you, and how it felt, being loved by her, right?"

Jack nods smiling. "Yeah…"

"And that you will never forget. You will always remember that feeling, that warm thing in your chest that feels so good. Always. And when sometimes you're a little down, or a little mad, you can think of that and it's like she's right here hugging you, and doing what you need to be alright again."

"She always did that."

"Because she loved you most than anybody else in the world."

"More than she loved dad?"

"Keep it a secret, but yeah, way more than she loved your dad. Because she was your mom, and us, moms, always love our children over everyone else."

"So you love Connor more than you love dad?"

"Yeah, but keep that a secret too, ok? Else it would be too many bad news for your dad, poor him."

Jack nods giggling. "You said you love him. See? You're his girlfriend!"

"Ouch, forget I ever said that."

The boy stays quiet for a moment, then sighs. "Then now my mom is gone, nobody loves me best…"

"What? And what about your dad? He loves you best too."

"When he's not catching the bad guys."

"Wrong, little mister, he loves you best at all times, or why d'you think he works catching the bad guys? He does it to protect you, just like I do it to protect Connor."

"Really?"

"No, I'm kidding. Of course really!"

She pokes Jack, making him laugh. Her eyes move up and she spots the quiet shadow standing half a step from the door.

"I'd like to show you my mom's videos."

"Sure, Jack, we can watch them tomorrow."

"All of them?"

"That depends on how much homework you bring, and how fast you do it."

Jack huffs, Gillian messes his hair sitting up.

"Aren't you telling me how you met dad now?"

"Hum, how about something better? Like saying goodnight to him?"

"Are we calling him?"

"I don't think we need to do that, because I think he's right out your door, waiting for you to be ready to go to sleep, to kiss you goodnight."

Exposed, Hotch steps in smiling.

"DAD!" Jack cries, stretching out his arms to him.

"Hey, buddy!"

Hotch hugs his son while Gillian stands up and heads out smiling.

"Night, Reg!"

"Night, Jack."

She walks out and Jack turns to Hotch with a serious smile. "We were talking about mom. I liked what she said." The boy drops back onto his bed. "Good night, dad. I love you."

"Just like that? So soon? What about another hug?"

"Nah, I wanna go to sleep now, I'm tired." —and I wanna recall what mom's hugs felt like.

Hotch nods smiling and tucks him in. Then he leans to kiss his hair whispering: "I love you, son."

When he's almost leaving, Jack says: "Connor says you're too old to be Reg's boyfriend."

Hotch pauses by the door, with that classic prick of caution when you don't know what your son is about to pop up with, since now it can be any stop in the train between "he's right, don't see her anymore" to "then marry her tomorrow".

"Did he," he cautiously says.

"Yeah, I told him he's a dork, and Reg laughed at him. Night, dad."

"Good night, Jack."


End file.
